Hathorn's comment cut; attorney calls it unlawful, deceptive

Alternate versions of Youngstown City School District Superintendent's Evaluation of Connie Hathorn by the Board of Education.

Hathorn

By DENISE DICK

denise_dick@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

Copies of city schools Superintendent Connie Hathorn’s evaluation distributed to the press left out Hathorn’s response: “I do not agree with the evaluation.”

The original was positioned on the copier so that Hathorn’s comment was cut off from the one-page standard letter-size document. Completed Wednesday, the latest performance evaluation ranks Hathorn a three out of five, which board members say means “satisfactory.”

See both versions of the evaluation at Vindy.com.

The original was submitted to the district’s human-resources office for inclusion in Hathorn’s personnel file. That’s where The Vindicator requested to see it Thursday.

Board President Richard Atkinson, Vice President Brenda Kimble and Ronald Shadd, a board member and Kimble’s son, attributed the omission to difficulty with the copier.

“I don’t think there was any intent to not give you the information,” Shadd said.

Kimble said Atkinson made the copies.

But Atkinson said that he, Kimble and Shadd made the copies together.

“We put it in the machine, and we had to fool with the machine to get it to work,” Atkinson said.

“I did not intentionally move anything. I was just trying to make copies.”

Atkinson said he had never used the copy machine before, and he and the other members were rushing.

“We were all pushing the button — and pushing it — and pushing and moving them around,” Atkinson said. “There was two-sided, one sided. There was no intention on my part to deceive anybody.”

Kimble said there was nothing to hide because she doesn’t consider Hathorn’s score bad.

Atty. David Marburger of Cleveland said that when someone removes information from a copy of an original public document without signaling it’s been done, Ohio’s Open Records Law is violated.

Marburger is the co-author of a book, “Access with Attitude,” an advocate’s guide to freedom of information in Ohio. He also has represented several media organizations in court including The Vindicator.

Marcia Haire-Ellis, board member, couldn’t be reached.

The other members said they were unaware there was any difference between what was distributed to the press and the original document.

Michael Murphy and Jerome Williams said there shouldn’t have been any difference between the copies.

Jacqueline Adair said if other board members distributed copies that differed from the original, she didn’t give her permission for it to be done.

These people cannot handle anything more complex than a toothpick; even then they would be stymied trying to decide which end to use. The Youngstown Board of Ed is a toothless tiger. Why do we need them when the state controls the city's schools. Replace them with seven chimps. They would be more fun and interesting to watch at their meetings.

Surprise, surprise... someone censors news - omits news? And the media screams foul when they play the same game... how ironic! I've been searching archives looking for a story the Youngstown media has politely omitted twice - a drug raid at the home of downtown business owners in October and the grand jury indictment in January. So I find this story amusing on so many levels... at least the school board has a comedy of errors with the copier machine excuse, what's the Vindy's?

The "YOUNSTOWN" misspelling is a perfect symbol of all that is wrong with the city schools. Incidentally, even the people who live in "Strudders" don't spell it that way. They understand that while pronunciations change, spellings usually do not.

Wow! Youngstown's own version of an "I.R.S.-Lois Lerner" scandal! Here's a little quiz for the kids: figure out the "common denominator" between all of the above. Hmmmm....not getting it? Okay, I'll give you the answer...political affiliation of all involved - Democratic Party. Lying, cheating, dishonesty, cover-ups and more often than not, breaking the law seems to be a common thread, leading from here at the local level, all the way to the White House. Of course, here in the Mahoning Valley, based on prior instances of political corruption and shenanigans, it should come as no surprise!